The donkeys were all good, all handsome, all strong and in good condition, all fast and all willing to prove it. They were the best we had found any where, and the most ‘recherche’. I do not know what ‘recherche’ is, but that is what these donkeys were, anyhow. Some were of a soft mouse-color, and the others were white, black, and vari-colored. Some were close-shaven, all over, except that a tuft like a paint-brush was left on the end of the tail.

We are cut up into parties of six or eight, and by this time are scattered far and wide. Ours is the only one, however, that is venturing on what is called “the long trip”—that is, out into Syria, by Baalbec to Damascus, and thence down through the full length of Palestine. It would be a tedious, and also a too risky journey, at this hot season of the year, for any but strong, healthy men, accustomed somewhat to fatigue and rough life in the open air. The other parties will take shorter journeys.

September 28, 29, & 30

We visited all the holy places about Jerusalem which we had left unvisited when we journeyed to the Jordan and then, about three o’clock one afternoon, we fell into procession and marched out at the stately Damascus gate, and the walls of Jerusalem shut us out forever. We paused on the summit of a distant hill and took a final look and made a final farewell to the venerable city which had been such a good home to us.

September 27 Friday Sam and group left Mar Saba at 3 AM and visited Bethlehem. They returned to Jerusalem at noon. (MTDBD)

September 26 Thursday
Sam and group left Jericho at 2 AM and visited the Jordan River and the Dead Sea.
Sam swam in the north end of the Dead Sea and tried to ride his horse into it, but fell off [Rasmussen 107].
That night they camped at Mar Saba. (MTDBD)

September 25 Wednesday
Sam and group left Jerusalem at 8 AM for a two-day side trip, camping that night near Jericho. (MTDBD)

Bædeker (1898) Route 7:, 30 years later, describes the same journey: From Jerusalem to Jericho, the Ford of Jordan, the Dead Sea, and back to Jerusalem via Mâr Sâbâ.

From The Innocents Abroad:

A fast walker could go outside the walls of Jerusalem and walk entirely around the city in an hour. I do not know how else to make one understand how small it is. The appearance of the city is peculiar. It is as knobby with countless little domes as a prison door is with bolt-heads. Every house has from one to half a dozen of these white plastered domes of stone, broad and low, sitting in the centre of, or in a cluster upon, the flat roof.

September 23 Monday Sam and group left Lubban at 2:30 AM and reached Jerusalem at noon.

September 22 Sunday

Sam and group left Janin at 2 AM and camped that night at Lubban. From Sam’s notebook: Camped at 7 PM at an Arab Village—Lubia (Libonia of the Bible). Tents behind. Slept on the ground in front of an Arab house. Lice, fleas, horses, jackasses, chickens, & worse than all, Arabs for company all night [MTNJ 1: 431]. (MTDBD)

September 21 Saturday

Sam and group left Nazareth and camped that night at Janin. From Sam’s notebook: Left Nazareth & its chalk hills at 7.30 [AM], came down a high, steep mountain & galloped across the Plain of Esdraelon to Endor, the rustiest of all, almost—a few nasty mud cabin,—many caves & holes in the hill from which the fierce, ragged, dirty inhabitants swarmed. Pop. 250 [MTNJ 1: 427].